Wonderful book features articles about life in the "good old days" on the Peninsula. Author (a native of the area) describes life in simpler times, yet shows the heritage we Virginians still hold high. Good reading.

This is the most complete, comprehensive and intelligent expose of all facets of the New Age thought. It includes everything from its various origins, development, secular uses of, and underlying values. It is very interestingly written and tremendously researched. This is definitely a must-read for everyone!

Cris Newport's second novel is an insightful and realistic look into the lives of four individuals who want to change their world. From the political activist, Phoenix, and the dual-gendered outcast, Corlay Llewellyn we are treated to a view of the world from the outside of the power structure. As they struggle to find ways to make their lives meaningful and give something back to those who have helped them while protesting the corrupt Studio system, they face the toughest challenges of their lives.

But perhaps more frightening is the insider's view of Screen City -- a.k.a. Hollywood. Michelle David's experiences as an actress "owned" by her studio are much closer to the truth of today's industry than many of us realize and it is her story which polarizes the other characters and propells them into action.

This book is fantastic, a must-read exploration of what it means to have freedom and what price fame really exacts from film stars. If you think it's all easy money and star-studded parties, Michelle David's studio-required prostitution will certainly open your eyes. Like many contemporary public figures, especially movie, television and musical stars, Michelle's life is circumscribed by what the studio "allows" her to do. They dictate everything from where she's allowed to do her foodshopping to where she's allowed to live and who she's allowed to associate with. And if you think this isn't happening now -- you're wrong.

Cast in opposition to Michelle's story is the story of JayJay and the Bandshees, an up and coming band of rock 'n' roll musicians on the verge of making it big. JayJay is hesitant to sign a Contract that has similar earmarks to Michelle's, but the other bandmembers, eager to escape their poverty, are more than willing to take the chance.

Set in the not-so-distant future, this novel is a moving story that will haunt you long after you've finished the last page.

I really like what this publisher does. This was one of the first ebooks ever released -- and yat it has way more effects than the ebooks coming out nowadays. The sound track is incredible. The story is fast-paced and held me through every minute. However, the platform/layout is not as easy as what's available now. But the publisher knows this. I emailed them at whitebones@windstormcreative.com and mentioned that I liked the books but they should think about laying it out using 2001 tech. They said they planned too... and if anyone sends them the inside flap of this first edition CD they'll send you a copy of the new format for FREE. That's what I call customer service. Overall, a great story made better with a ton of anime-like artwork and a stand-alone A+ rock soundtrack.

Earlier this month, I was asked to read this novel. Being a SciFi reader, I hesitated before opening the cover and before I knew what had happened, I was engrossed. The detail of the period was great (gotta love those old V-12 Packards!) and the characters were so real that you felt true emotions for them. You can see that the author has done his research on many different levels.

Believe it or not, I had the same "can't wait to sit down and read" feeling with _The Last Season_ as I did when I read Stephenson's _Snow Crash_ even though the subject matter is completely different. For me, that is saying a lot... Good work Ronald Florence! You can't go wrong this _The Last Season_!

The only reason this is a 4/5 is that I am reserving that for the author's first SciFi novel. :-)

In 1941, the war in Europe has captured the fascination of everyone in the Newport area whether they are part of the social elite, fishermen, or members of the Naval War College. The war has forged strange relationships. For instance, naval student and son of scions, Russell Westcott III noticed the beautiful young lady watching while he was winning a yacht race. He later learns her name is Sera and she is the daughter of a Portuguese fisherman living in Stoningham, Connecticut.

While Russell decides to make a play for Sera, her buddy Jake Werth wants her to see him as a lover not a friend. However, Jake knows he cannot compete with the charismatic, win at all costs Russell even as both attend the war college. Jake's role is to be a mole, trying to uncover who is giving away war gaming secrets. At the same time, a slickster wines and dines Russell into revealing those same secrets that he figures are nothing but silly adult games. As both Mike and Russell vie for Sera's affections, their adversarial roles will force a confrontation just as Pearl Harbor is around the corner.

THE LAST SEASON is a superb historical fiction work that brings Newport into clear focus just months before America enters World War II. The lead triangle is formed quite nicely in front of a vivid and descriptive backdrop. Although Jake's morality seems too perfect, readers will fully understand the motives of him, Russell and Sera. Ronald Florence provides a fabulous period piece that thrillingly turns THE LAST SEASON into a splendid novel that will leave genre fans seeking more works such as the authors' GYPSY MAN.

Harriet Klausne

This is a page-turner written with style. Initially, I was attracted by the period spy plot set in 1941 pre-war society Newport. However, equally engrossing are the portraits of racing boats (and the craftsmen who create them) and pre-war ethnic Connecticut village life. Normally a speed reader, I slowed down to savor the details. The picture of "society" reminded me of The Remains of the Day, except that Florence's boat races and chase scenes are more exciting.

Wow! I've been reading erotica all my life -- I've read everything from Califia to Karen Barber to Kitty Tsui, but nothing even comes close to Cris Newport's work. The major difference is that it's REAL -- the people in her stories seem like my friends and lovers. Not everyone has a perfect body or a perfect tan and there's a story, too. It's not like, "oooh baby now that I've known you for five seconds ..." THIS is what erotica should be. Fantasies for everyday life ;)

A good friend purchased a "gift box" of six lesbian erotica books for me for my birthday. I read them all with some interest but wasn't "won over" until I began "Exotica." God, what a read. The stories are based on real events in the authors life and the lives of her friends... it's true what they say that fact is hotter than fiction. The stories were excellently written and engaging -- I could not put the book down even to eat or sleep --seriously. If you're looking for heavy scene playing or heavy kinky, look elsewhere. But if you're in the mood for something beyond vanilla to get your brain thinking, your heart thumping and your body jumping, I suggest Exotica. It gets my first "two thumbs up" of the year.

Wow. These stories rock. It's great to find a collection oferotica that features women of all sizes, ages, and races for achange.

The stories have great sex in them, but they're also about real people. The sex is part of the story, but not the whole point.

A lot of the other erotica I've read doesn't offer much beyond the familiar, or if the writer tries something new, it's just stupid. But this isn't the case here at all.

Great book. I only wish it were twice as long! :)

There's nothing like a good ghost story, especially when it's a true one, but I must say that The Black Hope Horror is a rather unusual tale full of untraditional, poltergeist-type events. Ben and Jean Williams were the first couple to move into the new Section 8 subdevelopment, but the home of their dreams soon became the home of their darkest nightmares. At first, strangeness came in the form of material things: snakes, many of them poisonous, all over the place (not necessarily unusual), freak rainstorms leaving behind large numbers of huge worms, invasions of giant ants oblivious to hot water cycles of dishwashers, toilets which flushed themselves at all hours of the day and night. Members of the family also often had the feeling they were being watched by someone or something, footsteps began to haunt the halls, and the older and younger members of the family changed significantly in terms of their personalities. Cold spots manifested themselves quite often, and electrical malfunctions of an inexplicable sort began happening. One night, Ben encountered two black forms whose icy, enveloping touch sent him to the hospital with something akin to an asthma attack. Similar events influenced the lives of neighbors as the new community began to grow, although no one communicated their experiences with one another until two decomposed bodies were found buried beneath one neighbor's backyard, thus confirming the Williams' fears about the sinkholes in their own property. The family is shocked to learn that the development was constructed above an old black cemetery.

Assuming this story is true (and handfuls of families don't just leave homes and their investments behind and let their properties be foreclosed upon without good reasons), it is quite an interesting, somewhat nontraditional haunting. Two things about this book pose a small problem in my mind, though. First and foremost is the style of the narrative. This is basically the Williams' story as told to John Bruce Shoemaker, and he writes of these events as if he were there recording everything that happened along the way. Memories, especially negative ones such as these, become distorted rather quickly, and I find the plethora of direct quotations from multiple family members, including some this author never met, somewhat laughable. I think the story would be more believable if it was simply described in standard, objective narrative form. Secondly, there is far too much emphasis placed on peripheral events; I refer especially to the very unusual number of emotional problems, sicknesses, and deaths that affected the Williams' while they lived in the house. I just think too many things are blamed on the "haunting." The fact that a couple visits the house a time or two just doesn't seem to explain the breakup of marriages. While it is quite remarkable to see six close family members die in a period of only three years or so, it does not mean the "things" were causing all of the problems. After all, Jean and Ben never got sick or divorced and they lived in the house for several years.

This is a vivid, sometimes fascinating tale of undeniably bizarre events; there aren't as many goose pimple sections as you might find in a more traditional haunting account, but clearly something of a very unusual nature took place on this area of land that was once Black Hope Cemetery. I don't think this book will change anyone's opinion about ghosts or unduly frighten anyone, but certainly there are elements here of high strangeness that make for a compelling read. Even if you set aside the whole haunting premise, what you have left is a pretty powerful human interest story.

I am an ordained minister, shaman and experienced paranormal investigator. I've had experience with a LOT of the same type of phenomenon described in this book personally so I will personally testify that this story is most probably true to the core. This gives a very good insight into how a haunting or disrespecting the spiritual world can cause serious consequences. If I could find enough copies of this book for my group I would make it required reading.

Shortly after reading this book me and my husband at the time went to visit the Newport Subdivision. After we went to see where all this took place my husband's mother died suddenly, we ended up divorced and my car (that we drove thru this subdivision) ended up with a cracked block and my mother died the same year 6 months later. Coincidence? - Dunno but my advice is to read the book but go nowhere near this place. We saw the water tank and the woods and during broad daylight that place was dismal and very, very depressing and spooky.

At once a nice travelogue of Newport, Rhode Island, in the 1920's and a novel of human interaction, "Theophilus North" is a well-written and engaging (at first) book. It's just hard to understand why Wilder wrote it. There is so little of it in the way of dramatic or comic invention. The protagonist is a bodhisatva (a saint on earth) who spends his days doing good. All the time. You keep expecting some rising action - after 100 pages you yearn for it - but it never comes. Just one good deed after another. It isn't a bad read, and it might even be a good thing to put into the hands of teenagers (if you can get them to sit still for it). But there's no inner struggle going on in this first person narrative. And that makes ultimately for a weak plot. The book was something of a hit when it first came out, but it has since sunk to the obscurity it probably deserves. That saddens me, because I thought the author's "Our Town" and "Skin of Our Teeth" to be some of the finest writing this side of Heaven.

I read this book more than 20 years ago as a college student and I still find myself thinking about it now. I was a persnickety English student and I wouldn't have imagined the book was making much of an impression on me at the time. Maybe I needed to age considerably before I could appreciate Wilder's idea that you do get everything you wish for -- just not on your schedule, and seldom packaged as you may have hoped or expected.

this author, which has written books so beatiful, has given the world this one which is also beatiful, but pointless, i guess that the main character is himself. the book does not have a plot or at least is not going anywhere, but it is not boring, and it is a good read. i just loved it, even though when i finished i had the sensation of not being told anything new. the book has gone into oblivion and will propably stay there, the one i read i took it from the library and i was the only one who got it from the shelf in more than a decade, i guess it is there in the shelf at the library, waiting for another ten years until some reader will take it down, and write another pointless review about it....

LUIS MENDEZ luismendez@codetel.net.do

If this book had been around when I was beginning adolescence, it would have created more confusion than it solved. It is a great improvement on Newport's other book in terms of clarity and message. However, as an autistic lesbian, I would have found it very lacking.

While there is a short chapter that includes homosexuality (which it lumps in with celibacy, drug abuse, and cults!) it demonstrates little to no understanding of the subject. While it makes the point that relationships are relationships no matter what, it completely neglects that gay and lesbian courtship differs greatly from heterosexual courtship. I do not know about gay male courtship, but lesbian courtship requires a lot more subtlety and attention to tiny non-verbal cues than straight people's courtship. This is not addressed whatsoever, nor are the obvious differences in sexual practice.

While the book tries to promote the idea of equality, the comment that one of the authors wouldn't want his child to be homosexual would not have been encouraging to me as a young lesbian reader. Neither would the big bold-print "Nothing in this chapter should be taken as endorsement of an alternative lifestyle." It seems that they are trying to keep both sides happy -- to say "You are okay" to gay people and "I completely understand why you don't want your kid to be gay, and it's your choice to make good choices for the individuals concerned" to homophobic parents, so as to keep everyone satisfied. Meanwhile, there are parents who use these kinds of ideas to prevent their gay autistic adult children from having any relationships at all -- this is a pressing and real problem that appears not to be addressed for fear of offending anyone.

Bisexuality is never mentioned at all, and the authors seem to believe that a lot of people "try" homosexuality as a way of fitting in (I tried heterosexuality and it never did work for me). It always presents homosexuality as departure from heterosexuality, rather than as a phenomenon in its own right. It also discourages any political activism for gay people, derisively referring to it as a "crusade" (I wonder what the authors think of political activism for autistic equality) and telling gay people to get over being gay. Compare to Luke Jackson's observation in _Freaks, Geeks, and Asperger Syndrome: A User Guide to Adolescence_ that people willing to be visibly autistic and visibly gay have done a lot for human rights for both groups. I would think a real exploration of the similarities of the two groups would be more useful than prejudice with a veneer of tolerance over it.

I think that this book is good if you're straight and into conformity to certain gender roles, but for the rest of us it leaves a lot to be desired. I think it could have done with a few more co-authors who had a more accurate and inside view of homosexuality, so that it would not simply be a straight-sexuality centered book with a few paragraphs tacked on for everyone else. I found parts of the straight sexuality things applicable, and others completely useless and missing vital technical and health information. I think even straight people who don't completely follow the traditional gender expectations -- like my parents, for example -- would find parts of this book useless or demeaning. I showed the section on homosexuality to both straight and gay acquaintances, and they found it everything from unacceptable to insulting -- several asked me why I liked anything in the book at all after reading that part.

For more nuanced, accurate, and compassionate views of developmental disability and sexuality, I would recommend the works of Dave Hingsburger. While _Autism-Asperger's and Sexuality_ is better than nothing, and provided some useful ideas (the "What Do Women Really Want?" section had some very useful information in it for me), it's geared to a specific population, slightly against others, and suffers because of it. It could have been much better had the same sensitivity as it displays in the earlier chapters been carried over to the rest of us, who don't fit in those chapters. Skirting over the very real issues of gay and bisexual (among others) people with developmental disabilities does nobody any favors.

Jerry and Mary do a great job of tackling topics that many of us duck. I truly appreciate their emphasis upon the relationship as the cornerstone of intimacy and sexuality. They also provide practical advice about the sensory, hygiene, and "impression management" challenges that face many adolescents and adults with autism and Asperger Syndrome. Frankly, much of this is advice for anyone getting ready to face the world of dating and relationships!

As a parent and psychologist, I also appreciate the editor's notes that caution parents about the candor of the book and give permission to copy sections for their younger adolescent sons and daughters. It reminds us that even open-minded discussion must be done with sensitivity and responsibility.

Good job, Jerry and Mary!

Jerry and Mary give very readable and practical advice on a very delicate and complicated subject. This book shares information learned over two lifetimes in a very sensitive manner.

The author, John Newport, a very good amateur (handicap 3) spent a year taking lessons, practicing, and competing on the mini tours, trying to improve enough to make it through PGA Q-School to the Nike/Hooters/Whatever Tour. The book is a good read for us amateur golfers, including those who are not as talented as the author but aspire to be. I could relate to the main character and his experiences more than I could relate to the PGA Tour heroes in other books about golfers. Newport tried hard. But it seemed that every step forward was followed by a step back, with occasional joyful exceptions. Ultimately, Newport was undone by his inability to play his best under the pressure of formal competition. And that is the fine green line that separates the best golfers from the rest of us: the ability to play well under pressure. The book was entertaining, with Newport's personal, sometimes hopeful, often agonizing reminiscences, and his descriptions of fellow mini-tour travelers and their exploits. Most of us amateurs like golf tips, and there are some good ones here as Newport passes on what he learned in his golf lessons. The book is a good read. And it reminds us that no matter how much we love golf, we should keep our day jobs.

Most of us who love the game of golf - and "love" is a word used deliberately here - would love to have had the game, the courage and the imagination to do what John Paul Newport did - put his life on hold for a year and test his game and himself to better understand both. I have, as an interested observer, hung around a fair amount of the kinds of tournaments that JP played in during that year described in the book, as an observer. I have seen some interesting talents and even more interesting characters. They are people you will probably never see on the PGA Tour, but you would die for some of their abilities as golfers. What keeps them in the hinterlands of the golf tours is "The Fine Green Line" which Newport describes with grace, insight and humor. This is an interesting and highly entertaining insight into the tournament game, the game of golf itself and how it blends into one's life. I recommend it without hesitation to those who find the game to have a compelling fascination, regardless of your own personal talents.

Okay, it would help to know a little bit about golf--even though you kind of can figure things out eventually. Maybe tack a glossary on the back in future editions? Because golfer or not, this is a great book. The premise is smart: over 50% of American men believe that, if things had just worked out right, they could have been a professional athlete. John Paul Newport gets specific: could have been a GOLFER. So he puts that hypothesis to the test, and designates a year of his (and his wife and kid's) life "The Year of Golf." This is an honest, funny and smart book. Newport is a wonderful reporter. Nice to know he's got a writing career to fall back on, whatever happens with the Year.